Aspects and embodiments of the invention most generally pertain to a charged particle accelerator apparatus, accelerator components, fabrication methods, and applications; more particularly to a wafer-based charged particle accelerator, radio-frequency (RF) charged particle accelerator wafers, RF charged particle accelerator wafer assemblies, and electrostatic quadrupole (ESQ) focusing wafers, manufacturing methods, and applications; most particularly to a multi-beam, wafer-based charged particle accelerator, RF and ESQ wafers and assemblies, and manufacturing methods, and applications. The described accelerator structure can revolutionize the cost, size, weight, and power consumption of charged particle accelerators. By having each component of the accelerator structure fabricated on a wafer like substrate, we aim to leverage batch fabrication capabilities of silicon and other substrates to reduce the need for traditional machining of metals. The same wafers, armed with integrated electronics for closed loop control of the accelerating and guiding electric fields will eliminate or greatly reduce electronics equipment away from the prime accelerator, thus reducing size weight and power of the overall accelerator. By using micromachining approaches to make small gaps, moderate voltages can be used to achieve substantial focusing effects on charged particles. The existence of miniature UHV (ultra-high vacuum) pumps that can also be light-weight attached to the system further enables the possibility of light weight and small MeV (106 electron volt) class accelerators. We envision accelerators that are vehicle- and even man-portable to provide charged particle beams for many applications for x-ray generation, neutron beam generation, and medical therapies, that are not possible due to the size, weight, and power of existing accelerators, which rely heavily on metal based machined structures.
Our approach is informed from the MEQALAC (Multiple-electrostatic-quadrupole array linear accelerator) approach that breaks one charged beam into several charged beams, in the context of scaling the amount of current an accelerator can accelerate. The MEQALAC development can be attributed to Alfred W. Maschke and colleagues at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,350,927 (Means For The Focusing And Acceleration Of Parallel Beams Of Charged Particles), Gammel et al., MEQALAC DEVELOPMENT AT BROOKHAVEN, Particle Accelerator Conference, Mar. 11-13, 1981 Shoreham Hotel, Washington, D.C., and Adams et al., DESCRIPTION OF THE M1 MEQALAC AND OPERATING RESULTS, Brookhaven National Laboratory, the subject matters of all of which are incorporated by reference in their entireties.
Many types of particle accelerators, including the original MEQALAC and others, require resonant cavities and high voltage sources, and have other characteristics some or all of which make them unwieldy in terms of size, cost, complexity, scalability, and other problematic attributes. In view of this, the inventors have recognized the need for, and advantages and benefits to be obtained from, improved performance, manufacturing processes, and operating architectures for more efficient, compact, and better performing MEQALAC-type charged particle accelerators, which are provided by the embodied invention disclosed herein.
Exemplary, non-limiting aspects and embodiments of the invention include MEMS- and microfabrication-, and laser micro-fabrication-based MEQALAC building blocks, methods for making RF and pulsed high voltage accelerator stage wafers and electro-static quadrupole (ESQ) ion and electron beam focusing stage wafers, internalized high-voltage sources, and applications. Process descriptions are provided for printed-circuit board (PCB)-based RF and pulsed high voltage accelerator and ESQ focusing wafers, silicon-based wafers, glass-based wafers, and 3D printed wafers. Internalized, triggered, high-voltage-providing circuitry is described.